Egg beater



J. R. LAWRENCE" April 25,1950

EGG BEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 20 1946 John Hckdrd Lam-rents m a Am April 25, 1950 J. R. LAWRENCE 2,505,362

'- r I EGG BEATER Filed July 20; 1946 I I I 2 shank-sheet 2' I J rzzz ar: m .Eckwi Lawrence %4% Patented Apr. 25, 1950 :um'reo PATENT OFFICE John Richard Lawrence, Worcester, -Mass.,as-

, signor to The.\lllashblun.Company, Worcester,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts ApplicationJulyZQ, 1946, Serial No-685,225

l 2 Claims.

The present invention relates "to .egg heaters, andmore particularly :to the hand operated type imwhich a pair of beating elements are simultaneously rotated by turning-a 'gear wheel with one hand while holding onto the handle of. the beater with ithewother hand. 1

An object. of the present invention is to pro vide a beater of the above described type which will "have a minimum of exposed rotatable 18? .mentsto the .end that the beater willbesaie to operate andzwill not be liable to tear the-operators hands or catch. the operator's garments therein.

Another'object of the present invention isqto provide a beatenwhich will be sanitary in that thendriving elements thereof will bealmost som pletelyenclosed and-thus they .will not be exposed to-the-foodwhich is agitated by the beater.

A still further object of the-present invention is to "provide the .present type of beater with mechanism that will require a minimum of ma.- chining: operations :for the fabrication a d assembly.: thereof.

With the above and other objectsin view,; as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter-set forth and illustrated inthe accompanying drawingsof the preferred embodiment of the invention and the advantages ata n d thereby will b readily understood byth'ose skilled the. art.

. .Injthe, drawings, 7

,1 illustrates a front elevation of the present essbea Fig. 2 represents aright-side elevation of the unit disclosed inFig. '1.

Fig. 3 illustrates a front elevation partly'in sect-ion, of the presen'tegg beater with-one of the beater shafts disassembled therefrom.

Fig. 4 is a,:sectional viewtaken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig.3. Fig, 5Jillustrates a bottom: plan :view ofaeap element illustrated in Fig. 3 in side elevation.

Fi 6 illustrates .a bottom view of the beater disclosed inF g. f1: with the cap element removed,

Referringto the drawings, the present invention is;.incorporated inan egg beaterhaving a diei-cast unitary body member designatedgem orally by the numeral H), which body unit comprises a handle arrangement I], side frame members l2 and l3,and a hollow skirted portion l4. Projecting downwardly and outwardly from the skirtedportion M are beater shafts l5 and I6 upon the lower portions of which are the usual beater elements {LB/RG18,

More specifically, the present unit comprises thev spaced frame members I2 and I3 in which ,isjournaled a stub shaft l9 having a head portion provided on one end thereof. Mounted upon the mid-portion of the shaft l9 and between the side fram elements l2 and l 3 is a main driving gear .-2I which may be keyed upon the shaft 19 in any suitable .manner. One end of the Shaft; I19 projects beyond the side frame member and: has mounted thereon a die-cast crank member 22 which is rigidly secured to the shaft l,9.;by means of a cross pin 23. At the end of the Qrankelement '22 is mounted the usual handle member 24. Thus, rotation of the driving gear 2| is efiected by-rotating the handle member 24 in either direction.

Referring particularly to Figs. 3 and 14, the skirtedportion. Id of the body unit H3 is provided witha hollow chamber portion 25 which communicates with a vertically disposed slot 26. The driving gear. 21 extends downwardly into the slot 26 and consequently a portion of this gear is disposed withinthe confines of the skirt [4. Disposedientirely within the opening is a pair of die-cast pinion elements each of which comprises a cylindrical shank portion 21 having formed at' the top thereof pinion teeth 28. Each Qfcthese pinion elements is recessed at the top thereof, as at :29,:to receive a thrust bearing in the form of a ball 29'. Each of the .balls 29',:29"is adapted to be received-also within one of a pair of hemispherical recesses 30 provided in the up- :per portion of the skirt l4. Thus, each of the balls 29, 29, is disposed between the top portion. of a pinion Zland the upper internal portion ofahollow chamber 25 thereby to function as a thrust bearing.

In order to align each of the pinion elements 21.1.21*thehollowchamber 25 is provided with a pair 10f cylindrical recesess ;3l, 3! each of which iszadapted snugly to-receive an upper cylindrical shoulder, 32 formed on'the upper portion of the pinion members 21, 21. Each of the pinion memtate the gear 21 to theend that the pinion meme bers 2],;21 each will be rotated therewilzlh in order to give the pinion members 21, 21 proper rigidity, and also to enclose the hollow chamber 25, the present device is provided with a die-cast cap element 35 which is secured over the bottom of the open skirt I4. Referring particularly to Figs. 3 and 5, the die-cast cap element 35 is provided with a pair of apertures 35 and 31 which respectively receive the pinion members 21, 21. A pair of screws 38, 38 provided in the cap element 35 are threaded into a pair of bosses 39, 39 formed in the opposite side walls of the hollow chamber 25. Referring to Fig. 6, it is to be seen that each of th bosses 39, 39 is provided with a threaded aperture 40 for receiving the screws 38. About the upper peripheral por-- tion of the cap element 35 there is provided an annular bead 4| which is adapted to fit snugly within the lower portion of the skirt |4 thereby to provide a substantially dirt-tight enclosure.

Each of the pinion members 21, 21 is provided axially thereof with a bore 42 which is adapted to slidingly receive the upper cylindrical portion of one of the beater shafts I and I6. About the upper portion of each of the beater shafts l5 and I6 is provided an annular groove 43 which is adapted to receive a split circular ring 44. Correspondingly provided in each of the pinion bores 42, 42 is an annular groove 45 which is adapted to receive the ring 44 whenever one of the beater shafts is inserted therein. Each of the rings 44, 44 normally projects beyond the periphery of the beater shaft but whenever the shaft is inserted into the bore 42 the ring 44 is compressed to the degree that it closes in order to permit the insertion of the beater shaft into the bore 42. As soon as the ring 44 is in register with the annular flange 45 it will snap open thus to retain the beater shaft within the bore 42. The top portion of each of the beater shafts l5 and i6 is provided with a head 46 having a substantially square cross section. correspondingly formed in the upper portion of each of the axial bores 42, 42 is a portion 47 having a square cross section for the purpose of receiving the head 46 of one of the beater shafts l5 and I6. beater shafts l5 and I6 are inserted within the bores 42, 42 the head portions 46, 46 will be received'within the bores 4'5, 41 to the end that the beater shafts can not rotate relative to the pinion elements 21, 21. 1

It will be understood from the above description, that the present beater shafts i5 and i6 may be readily inserted into or withdrawn from the hollow skirt l4 and, therefore, the entire beater unit need not be subjected to a washing operation after the same has been used as the operator may remove the heating elements and wash them only.

Thus, the unitary body portion of the present beater, comprising the handle I the spaced frame members 52 and i3, and the hollow skirt l4, may be die-cast in one operation to form substantially the structure as herein illustrated and described. Likewise, the pinion gears 21, 21 as well as the crank 22, the cap 35, and the driving gear 2-| may each be die-cast and assembled with the body ill thereby to produce a beater unit which requires only a few simple machining operations for the production thereof.

It is also to be understood that the hollow skirt l4 along with the cap 35, forms a hollow chamber in which the pinion gears 21, 21 are entirely enclosed. The driving gear 2|, by extending into the slotted opening 26 of the chamber, effectively seals this opening so that foreign matter will Thus, whenever the not be collected therein. The present construction, therefore, is advantageous in that the pinion gear teeth 28 and the driving gear teeth 34 are guarded to theend that neither the operators hands nor garments will be caught by the gears. The flange 33 about the gear 2| is not only efi'ec tive to hold the pinion gears in place but it also functions as a guard to keep foreign elements from being caught by the otherwise projecting gear teeth.

- I claim:

1 A beater comprising, a unitary body member,

" said body member including, a handle, a pair of spaced frame members depending from said handle, and a hollow bell-shaped skirt member formed at the lower ends of said spaced frame members and having openings in the upper and lower portions of said skirt in line with the space provided between said spaced members, a cap-removably disposed over the bottom opening of said hollow skirt and having a pair of cylindrical hearing apertures therein, a driving gear journaled between said spaced frame members and extending into said hollow skirt member through the upper opening therein, an annular flange dis-.- posed about the periphery of said driving gear, a pair of pinion gears, each of said pinion gears including a gear portion with a shank extending axially therefrom and being disposed entirely within said hollow skirt with the gear portion thereof in mesh with said driving gear and in engagement with the inner peripheral portion of said annular flange so as to be axially supportedthereby in one direction, the shank portion of each of said pinion gears being rotatably journaled within a respective one of the bearing apertures formed in said cap, a thrust element in the form of a ball disposed between each of said pinion gears and the inner portion of said hollow skirt member, and beater elements attached to theshank portions of said pinion gears.

2. The combination with a beater having a handle, a frame depending from said handle, a hollow bell-shaped skirt formed at the lower end of said frame and having openings in the upper and-lower portions of said skirt, and a cap removably disposed over the bottom opening of said hollow skirt and having a pair of bearing apertures therein; of a driving gear journaled in said frame and extending into said hollow skirt member through the upper opening therein, an annular flange disposed about the periphery of said driving gear, a pair of pinion gears, each of said pinion gears including a gear portion with a hollow shank portion extending axially therefrom and being disposed entirely within said hollow skirt with the gear portion thereof in mesh with said driving gear and in engagement with the inner peripheral portion of said annular flange so as to be axially supported thereby in one direction,the shank portion of each of said pinion gears being rotatably journaled within a respective one of the bearing apertures formed in said cap, a thrust element in the form of a ball disposed between each of said pinion gears and the inner portion of said hollow skirt member so as axially to support the gear in the other direction, and a pair of beater shafts of which each is removably insertable within the hollow portion of a respective one of said gear shanks.

JOHN RICHARD (References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 232,125 Henry Sept. 14, 1880 620,929 Jocelyn Mar. 14, 1899 1,623,256 Lienhard Apr. 5, 1927 Number Number 

